Will any thing replace chrome lined barrels? Any new technology on the horizon?

Nitriding would be my choice, and is on most of my products. We use a salt bath nitride, mostly on 4140 steel, and have not noticed any deformation after the process. It is a relatively inexpensive process if you can fill a minimum batch and provides a subsurface hardened layer, rather than a coating.

Chrome lining has it's advantages, but I think that most nitrided barrels will hold up well to continued use.
 
Nitriding is preferred by manufacturers as it is cheaper. Many make claims that the nitrided surface is harder than chrome so it is superior. The fact that a nitrided surface is less than 1/10th the thickness is conveniently left out. Nothing replaces chrome lining for durability period. Strangely I have experience in this not in the firearms industry but in industrial piping, where both methods are used for abrasive slurries.
 
we have been doing
Controlled Gaseous nitriding for about 4-5 yrs now on our barrels, it has replaced chrome lining for sure, its less then 2 micron build up , the company that does this for as done multimillion dollar parts for aero space. they have perfected the used of controlled gas nitriding in small spaces.
 
VanIsler said:
Nitriding is preferred by manufacturers as it is cheaper. Many make claims that the nitrided surface is harder than chrome so it is superior. The fact that a nitrided surface is less than 1/10th the thickness is conveniently left out. Nothing replaces chrome lining for durability period. Strangely I have experience in this not in the firearms industry but in industrial piping, where both methods are used for abrasive slurries.
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salt bath nitride is cheaper, but you would not use this for barrels a the coating is too inconcisdent, its great for things like bolts and flashiders where you have .0001 to .00005 too play with
 
VanIsler said:
Nitriding is preferred by manufacturers as it is cheaper. Many make claims that the nitrided surface is harder than chrome so it is superior. The fact that a nitrided surface is less than 1/10th the thickness is conveniently left out. Nothing replaces chrome lining for durability period. Strangely I have experience in this not in the firearms industry but in industrial piping, where both methods are used for abrasive slurries.
Click to expand...

Nitriding is only as good as the substrate material.

Industrial piping type applications (oil & gas etc..) typically call-out carbon steels in the order of 1026/1045 DOM. This material has essentially no alloying elements which in turn, when nitrided, will only generate a compound layer and no appreciable diffusion case. With that being said, utilizing a cheap material with a nitride may not net the results required. The materials utilized for firearms components (typically alloyed steels) will net much different results once nitrided. These materials will not only develop a compound layer but as well will form a very nice diffusion case (hardness gradient) that can extend into the material by as much as 0.030". What this means to other industries is offering a predictive wear characteristic vs. a catastrophic failure in service.
 
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